"USDA Offers Loan Guarantees for Non-Corn Biofuels, Up to $250 Million Per Project" Green Car Advisor

USDA Offers Loan Guarantees for Non-Corn Biofuels, Up to $250 Million Per Project

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking to support up to four advanced biofuel projects with up to $250 million in loan guarantees per project.

The USDA defines advanced biofuels as fuels that do not use corn as a feedstock.

The program provides loan guarantees for the development, construction and retrofitting of viable commercial-scale biorefineries producing advanced biofuels. Preference will be given to projects where first-of-a-kind technology will be deployed on a commercial scale.

Applications will be accepted through the remainder of this month for loan guarantees first half of Fiscal Year 2009. Applications must be submitted between March 1, 2009, and April 30, 2009, for the second half of the fiscal year.

In a statement explaining the program, the USDA states that cellulosic ethanol production--a key next-generation biofuel--may be produced from switch grass, corn stover, forest waste, fast-growing trees, woodchips, canola, algae and other plant material rather than from the edible part of crops such as corn.

"These energy crops require further research and development, but they represent a key long-term component to a sustainable biofuels industry," the statement says. Clearly, someone at the USDA is keenly aware of the plethora of studies that have come out against ethanol production the past year.

The loan guarantees are available under the Biorefinery Assistance Program, authorized by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (also known as "the farm bill").